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Description
These shapes were originally circles, but since it takes just two pictures to demonstrate this wonderfully simple and yet, to the innocent layhuman, seemingly sophisticated technique, I decided to sacrifice the geometry so both images would fill a single square. Shape doesn't matter at all here.

Requirements (left panel):

1. An opaque background. In this case it is black.

2. A porthole, i.e. an opaque layer with a hole in it. Here it is white. This one must be the top layer.

3. A 'thing' on an transparent background wedged in between. Here it is the white ellipse in the center.

If the thing is drawn directly onto an opaque background, then the background layer (1.) can be dropped (I like transparent backgrounds because with those, things can easier be manipulated in isolation of the rest of the image).

It doesn't matter whether the thing has the same shape as the porthole, or if it is fully opaque, just as long as it is visible. Color doesn't matter much either, just as long as it somewhat contrasts with that of the background. Other than that, any amount of experiment is possible.

Procedure (right panel):

1. Blur the thing.

That is all there is to it. Starting with a low blur factor, increasing it will make the thing approach a semi-sphere (in the case of a circle) at first, but after a certain threshold it will flatten out again.

Description
These shapes were originally circles, but since it takes just two pictures to demonstrate this wonderfully simple and yet, to the innocent layhuman, seemingly sophisticated technique, I decided to sacrifice the geometry so both images would fill a single square. Shape doesn't matter at all here.

Requirements (left panel):

1. An opaque background. In this case it is black.

2. A porthole, i.e. an opaque layer with a hole in it. Here it is white. This one must be the top layer.

3. A 'thing' on an transparent background wedged in between. Here it is the white ellipse in the center.

If the thing is drawn directly onto an opaque background, then the background layer (1.) can be dropped (I like transparent backgrounds because with those, things can easier be manipulated in isolation of the rest of the image).

It doesn't matter whether the thing has the same shape as the porthole, or if it is fully opaque, just as long as it is visible. Color doesn't matter much either, just as long as it somewhat contrasts with that of the background. Other than that, any amount of experiment is possible.

Procedure (right panel):

1. Blur the thing.

That is all there is to it. Starting with a low blur factor, increasing it will make the thing approach a semi-sphere (in the case of a circle) at first, but after a certain threshold it will flatten out again.